The present invention involves live table games where players make one or more wagers on the outcome of the game played according to specific set of rules for a specific game. A progressive jackpot system and apparatus are proposed which could be common for various table games with different wager denominations and hit frequencies.
This invention relates to gaming systems and, in particular, to progressive jackpot systems for table games. The approach presented can be used for electronic game machines playing especially live table games, as well.
In a table game, especially a card table game, players and/or a dealer get a set of cards and players try to assemble a winning hand according to the rules of a game. In addition to wagering on a base game, players can wager on any side bets, if exist, which enhance the base game appeal to the players by providing more wagering options.
One of the side bets is a progressive jackpot side bet, where the main prize is a common jackpot for many tables playing, usually the same game type. Portion of a player progressive side bet goes into a progressive jackpot which increases over time to a significant amount before somebody wins it. Normally the progressive wager is fixed for all tables. The value of a wager does not have any effect on a chance of winning the jackpot.
Different table games define different winning hands for a progressive jackpot; therefore, the most common progressive system arrangement is to link all tables playing the same game to the game progressive jackpot. In a gaming establishment or casino there are often only several tables and therefore a common progressive jackpot for all different games would be very welcome by both players and casinos, since the jackpot value would grow faster and would attract players.
One possible type of solution proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,285 to Place et al and in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0113712 to Van Asdale was to offer a progressive jackpot in an additional bonus round for a winning hand. These solutions, however, do not address the case of different progressive wager denomination and take significant time to operate and therefore are not popular in casinos.
The solution discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,728 to Barrie et al for electronic machines to equalize the contribution amount to jackpot from each gaming machine would be difficult to accept for players who play less popular games but would like to have the same chance of winning the jackpot as at other games.